Electric signal system for railways.



I H. J. WARTHEN.

ELECTRIC SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16, 1910. Y

Patented Mar. 17, 191i 8 11 uentot I as v a j fllrow H. J. WARTHEN.

ELECTRIC SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLIOATION rum) JUNE 16, 1910.

- Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' the appended claims.

. shown in the r nnion HARRY J. WAR/THEN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

ELECTRIC SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

Application filed June 16, 1910. Serial No. 567,300.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HARRY J. VVARTHEN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, have invented an Electric Signal System for Railways, of which the following is a full and complete specification.

This invention is an electric signal system for railways, and relates more especially to a system of electricallybperated devices for the purpose of automatically controlling the operation of trains.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a system of electrically-controlled devices which are maintained in normal condition by closed electric circuits, and Will operate by gravity to eii'ect an application of the air-brakes to a train when the electric circuits are broken 'or shunted from any cause.

In the present instance the system comprises electric circuits for the sections or blocks of a railway track, herein termed track-circuits cab of a locomotive or motor-car, herein termed cah-circuit in connection with relays in the track-circuits, supplemental electric connections or conductors, including armatures of the relays, and cooperating with the cab-circuit, and air-brake control devices held in normal position by the closed cab-circuit and operated by gravity to effect an application of the air-brakes when the cab-circuit is broken; all as hereinafter fully described and specifically set forth in In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification :'Figure 1 is a diagram view illustrating the complete system; Fig. 2 is aview illustrating that part of the system which is carried by the locomotive, or cab, and including the trolley device. Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the trolley device. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the armatures' and connecting-plate employed in connection with the relays of the track-circuits.

Like numerals of reference indicatelike parts in allthe figures of the drawings.

In carrying out my'invention the railway is divided into blocks or sections, each provided with a station, and though I have present instance only a small number of blocks and stations it will be traiiic conditions in being disconnected,

an electric circuit in theunderstood, of course, that the number will depend upon the length of the railway and the distance apart the stations are placed, and that in practice a considerable distance or length of track will intervene between stations, the distance being determined by each particular case. The stations shown in the drawings are designated, for convenience of description, as A, B, C, D and E, respectively, and each block comprises that section of track at oppcsite sides of a station to a point interme diate the next station in either direction.

5 and 6 designate the track-rails, and in the present instance'thesc are adapted pri- 1narily to form the'electric conductors for one of these rails, as

the track-circuits, I

electrically, at each station by means of an insulating-block 7, and also electrically disconnected at a point intermediate the stations b 8. The other rail, 6, is continuous to form a common conductorfor both the track-circuits and the supplei'nental connections or conductors which cooperate with the cabcircuit, as hereinafter explained.

At each station are located two relays, 9 and 10, ofconventional form, independently connected to the track-rails 5 and (3, respectively; the relay 9 by wire 11 to rail 6 and by wire 12 to rail 5 at one side of the insulating-joint 7; while relay 10 is connected by wire 13 to rail 6 and by wire 14 to railsection 5 at the other side of the insulatingjoint 7. The relays 9 and 10 are energized by batteries 15, which are so connected that the current will have to pass through a length of the track to said relays, and in the present instance the connections are such that the two relays at adjacent stations and at opposite ends of the same block are connected in a single series circuit. To this end each battery 15 is connected around the in sulating-joint 8 to the track-rail sections 5, 5, so that current will pass from one side of the battery through rail-section 5, wire 12,;to and through relay 9, wire 11, back along rail 6, wire 13 at t 1e other end of the block, relay 10, wire 14-, and return a'lon the other rail-section 5 to the other side 0? the battery, thus maintaining -both rails of the track in apermanently closed series circuit.

Each pair of relays?!) and 10 is providedwith independent. armatures 16 and 17, re-

1 insulatin -blocks' spectivelyi which when the relays are energized are electrically connected bya conductor-plate 18, these connectionsthe a1- matures and plate---for1ning part of the sup- 'plemental conductors which cooperate with the cab-circuit, hereinafter described. To this end armature 16 is connected by wire 19 to track-rail 6, and armature 17 by wires 20 and 21 to ramp-rails in certain blocks in both directions from the station at which the pair of relays are located-in the pres ent instance the blocks at each side of the block controlled by said station. Therefore, Wire 20'from each station of a block is connected to a ramp-rail 22 in the next block in one direction, and wire 21 to a ramp-rail 23 in the next block in the other direction, the last mentioned ramp-rail,or wire 21 leading thereto, being electrically connected to a supplemental ramp-rail, as'2l, located in the same block with ramp-rail 23 at a distance therefrom; as for instance, armature 17 in block G is connected by wire 20 to ramp-rail 22 in block B, and by the wire 21 to the connected ramp-rails 23--24= in block D. The armature 17 is provided with two- 1 conducting-elements, 17 and 17*, (see Fig.

4;), to which the wires 20 and 2-1 are connected, respectively, said conducting-elements being insulated from each other, as shown, and similarly the conductor-plate l8 provided with separate conducting-elenifents through'which the contactpoints 18 pass. In this manner, as will be apparent, the wires 20 and 21 have independent connections, so that the current cannot pass from one to the other, but may pass from either or both through the common conductor .16 to wire,19 when both relays 9 and. 10 are energized, and when either relay is deenergized the current is broken.

One side of the ,battery 25 of the cab circuit is'c onn'ected by a wire 26 to a trolley, as 27, on the locomtive, or cab, which engagestheramp-rails 22 and 2324, While the other side of said battery is connectedby a wire-1,28 to the frame of the locomotive so as to electrically connect with the rail 6, as indicated in Fig. 1, certain devices, as a solenoid 29- and signal-lamps 30 and 31 being included in the circuit, 'for the purposes hereinafter explained. The1cab-circu1t when closed, therefore, is from one side of the battery 25 by wire 26 to trolley 27, ramprail 22, or 23, wire 20, or 21., thr011gh armatures of relays 9 and 10, wire 19, track-rail 6, engine-frame, and return by wire 28 to the other sitle of the battery. :The cab-circuit may be broken by the defenergization ofeither relay!) or 10 througlr'the break: ing or shunting of a track-circuit, as hereinafter explained, or when the trolley 27 leaves the ramp-rail, this latter eonditionbeing revented, however, by a particular form of ti-olley-rlevicc hereinafter described.

piston 51 is. forced "upward 'the air In the present instance the solenoid 29 when energized by a closed cab-circuit holds the plug 32 of a valve 33, so that air from the main reservoir 34 of the air-brake system may pass into a cylinder 35 and maintain the piston 36 therein in its uppermost position to supply air from pipe 37 leadingfrom the reservoir 36 through passage 38' in said piston to a pipe'39 supplying the trainline of the air-brake system; thus permitting of the normal operation of the air-brake mechanism. When the parts are in this, the

normal position, the white signal-lamp 30, which is wired around the solenoid, will be lighted. When the cab-circuit is broken the de'e'nergization of the solenoid will cause the staff 40 thereof to drop by gravity, thus turning the plug 32 of valve 33 so that thecavity {11 therein will connect the cylinder 35 .with the exhaust-port 42 in the valve, ex-

'l1austing cylinder 35, by gravity which permits piston 36 to drop and cut ed the supply of air-pressure to the train-pipe; the pressure remaining in the train-pipe being thenexhausted through a cavity 43 in the piston and an exhaust-port 44: in the cylinder, thus causing the air-brakes to be automatically applied, as will be obvious. When the sole- 'noid is deenergized the white signal-lamp 30 is extinguished, and in order to show a red-light, or danger-signal simultaneously with the denergization of the solenoid, the lamp 31, showing a red light, is wired to both sides of the battery 25, with an interposed make and break device, whichlatter is operated by the solenoid. To this end, therefore, a wire. from one side of the battery 25 and lamp 31 is connected to one of a palr of spaced apart contact-points 45,45,the other of which latter is connected to the other side of the battery, as shown;v the contactpoints being connected tocomplete the lamp circuit by a plate 46 carried by the stafi' of the soleis provided with a weight 40; and for the" purpose of lifting the weighted staff to restore a normal condition of theair-brake control devices and thereby permit the train or locomotive to proceed, the staff l0v is connected to a piston 47 in a cylinder 48, and the space in said cylinder below the pistonls' connected by pipe 49 tothe upper part of a second eylinder, 50, having a piston 51 curved at its lower end, for the engagement ofan operating-lever '52; whereby whenthe which s compressed in the'upper part of cylinder 50 will pass-through pipe 49 to cylinder 48 and lift .the piston 47 and stalf carried-thereby.

The lever 52 may be, and preferably is, operiii through the connecting-rod 53, and the connection with the starting lever is such that the piston 51 is raised only when the starting-lever is reversed, to back the train. In this manner, as will be seen, the train can be backed but cannot proceed forward until the solenoid is energized by the closing of the cab-circuit.

Of course by employing a continuous third-rail an ordinary form of trolley could be used for-connecting the battery n the cab of a moving locomotive to the supplemental conductors which include the armatures' of the relays, but inasmuch as I purpose using the" comparatively short ramprails 22 and 23-24, it is necessary to employ a particular form of trolley device which will maintain the cab-circuit closed after.

passing a ramp-rail, provided the electric connections which include said ramp-rail are closed when the train passes the same. The particular form of trolley device which I use isillustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, and consists of a wheel 55, loosely 25 mounted on a suitably supported shaft 56 and carryingthe oppositely-projecting trolley-arms 57 so that said wheel will be turned when either trolley-arm is depressed. Mounted on the shaft56, alongside of the wheel 55 is a magnet 58, adapted to attract and hold to said wheel so as to turn there with',-for the purpose hereinafter explained.

The rotatable magnet is provided with a pair of switch-bla cs 59, to which the wire 85 26 from the cab-battery 25 is connected,

saidswitch-blades being adapted to engage a suitably-supported switch-blade 60, which latter is connected by a. wire 61 to the wire 28 that leads to the other side of the cabbattery through the solenoid, whereby said solenoidis energized when theswitch 59-60 is closed. The electrical connections for the magnet consist of a wire 62 connecting with the wire (31, and a wire 63 connecting with 4 the wire 28' between the solenoid and battery 25, whereby when the solenoid is energized by said cab-battery and its connections the magnet will also be energized, and, conversely, when the connections to the battery 5 25 are broken the magnet is deenergized, for the purpose hereinafter explained. The trolley-arms are suitably guided by standards 64, and may be returned to a normal horizontal position by means of suitable springs, as will be obvious. This trolley- -device may be located at an convenient place on the locomotive.

It will be understood, of course, that in practice only one tr0lley-arm operates on 601116 ramp-rail, the oppositely being'employed so that either one will engage the ramp-rail whether the locomotive is being run forward or backward.

The operation of the system is illustrated,

55 in Fig. l of the drawifigs, wherein a train other side of battery, and as armature 16 of 1 station B has dropped by reason of the dedisposed arm 'B by shunting theeircuit from battery 15 between stations B and C through the wheels and axle of the train from rail-section 5 to rail 6, current from said battery then passing by rail 6 to wire 13 of station C, relay 10, wire 14, andrail-section 5 to 76 energization of its relay 9 the connection of wires 20 and 21, armature 17, conductorplate 18, said armature lfi, wire19 to rail 6,

is broken at this point (armature 16), wire 21 in this instance extending to ramp-rail 23 at station 0, as shown, so as to signal a train when it arrives at this ramp-rail. Under these conditions, a train entering station 0 from the right has its trolley depressed by the ramp-rail 23, thus opening the switch '59-6O in the cab of the locomotive of said train, so that the cab-circuit 'must' then be completed by wire 26, trolley 27, ramp-rail 23, wire 21, armature 17 of station B, con ductor-plate 18, armature 16, wire 19, common rail 6, locomotive engine-frame, Wire 28, through solenoid to the other side of the cab-battery; but armature 16 at station B having dropped, by reason of train occupying block B, as herein'before stated, the cab circuit is broken and the solenoid in the engine-cab of'train occupying station C is .deencrgized. This connects the danger-signal or lamp 531 in circuit with battery 25, and also operates the valve 33 to automatically apply the brakes to the train, in the manner as hereinbefore described; simultaneously magnet 58 is demagnetized so that should the locomotive proceed beyond ramprail 23 wheel 55 being thus disconnected from said magnet would return alone, leaving the magnet in the position shown in Fig. 2 of'the drawings, with the switch 59 60 broken. The cab circuit would thus remain broken, However, the train can be backed to bring the trolley on to the ramprail again by reversing the engineers opera-ti 'ig-lever 54, which would restore or lift the staff of the solenoid and open the valve 1 5 '33, the pressure from the reservoir then lifting piston 36 to admit air-pressure from said'reservoir into thetrain-pipe connection 39; but should the engineerat'tempt to again proceed forward. before reaching the ramp- 1mv rail the forward movement of the operatinglever would release the solenoid staff and again.automatically apply the brakes; or, should the engineer attempt to start the train forward after reaching the ramp-rail= and before block B is cleared the attempt would be unsuccessful on account of the cab circuit being broken by armature 16 of station 13, the switch 5960 being still open.

0n the other hand, when block B is eleared no fmay then'inove *""the trolley leaves being held to wheel 55 will move-with the V and armature 17 at station B drops Slmttlr 5 be noted, also,

lowing in station C plicable to single-track however,

modifications,

thing, it is only necessary rear" end collisions.

theramp-rails be the locomotive, and on the ground.

to train occupying latter station is also re- 5 stored, energizing solenoid 29, extinguish? ing red-lamp 31, "lighting white-lamp 30,

magnet 58. The engineer his train forward, and when the ramp-rail the magnet and energizing latter and close the switch 59-60, thus maintaining the cab-circuit through the cab connections until the train arrives at the next ramp-rail. It will be understood that 15 the connection of the supplemental conductors at station .13, by armatures l6 and 17, will be broken as long as the train is in block B, for when the train moving from the right end of the block passes insulatingoint 7 of said station B relay 10 is cut out,

taneously with the restoration of armature 16, and the dropping of either armature breaks the connection at this point. It will that the train occupying block G deenergizes relay 9 in said station so that armature 16 thereof will not only establish a danger condition in block D in the rear by wire 21 to ramp-rails 23-24 in 0 said latter block, but will also establish a signal condition at the farther end of station B in front by wire 20 to ramp-rail 22 so that the'engineer of the train ahead will become aware of the fact that a train is folas he passes over said ramp-rail. Ramp-rail 22 is also for the purpose of preventing head-on collisions, as will be obvious.

The system as shown and described is aprailways, on which trains move in bothjdi'rections and .on which it is desirable to establish warning signal condition in both directions from the point of danger. It will be perfectly obvious, that my invention can, with slight be employed to equal advantage on double-track roads where the trafhe on each track is in one directionpnly, as shown in drawing and where, as a general to provide against lVhile I have used the Wor b ry throughout the specifications it will be understood, of course, that I mean to include 55 primary or secondary batteries, generators,

or other suitable source of current.

In the present instance I have specified that the trolley device is located on the cab of the locomotive, requiring, therefore,that

in elevated position alongside of the track, but it will be understood, that the trolley may in some instances be placed at some point on the lower part of the ramp-rails located Furthermore, though I have described the deenergization of the relays "of the track circuits to effected by the passing of a train into each:

"block, it will be. readily a parent thatthe eitherone ot the track-rails 5 and 6 of a block become displaced connection, etc. Having thus claim: 1. A system of railway vid'ed into sections or blocks each having a.

for controlling the operatioii other in two sections for each block insulated from each other and from like track- 'directions, batteries connected each to a track-rail section of the next-block, relays track-rail sections of that .bl k, respectively, and by the other pole to ous track-rail forming a closed track circuit including relays of adjoining blocks and both track-rails in a single series circuit, a contact-piece for connecting the armatures of each pair of relays when said a'rmatures armature and continuous track-rail; diogether with an electric circuit on the cab of a locomotive, and means for connecting said cab-circuit to include the aforesaid rampous tra ck-rail, and

necting said armatures'; when atti acted to- .i A

same danger cOnditi'oI'iIHl result shouldthrough any cause, for instance by a washout, broken rail described my invention, I I

trams, comprising a railway d1-i he fcontinuf Tails, armatnres and connections, substanpairs for each block and each connected by a contact-piece forlconestablish a danger condition pair of track-rails one continuous and the 1 rail sections of the adjoining blocks in both track-rail section of one block and adjoining arranged in pairs for each block and each connected by :one pole to one ofjthe' two are attracted, ramp-rails each connected to one of the armatures, of a pairof relays,,- and connections between the companiqnfi and described. W. A. Rmss.

a locomotive, gravityoperated devices 00 name to this specification in the presence of trolled by Salld cab-c1rcu1t, and means for t'we s yubscrlbing wltnesses.

gether with an electric circuit on the cab of In testimony whereof T have signed my nonnecti ng the cab-circuit to include the HARRY J. WARTHEH ramp-pans, nrmatures and connections along Witnesses: the rznlway-t'rack, substantially as shown L S. AUSTIN, 

